


Don't Leave Me Tongue Tied

by orphan_account



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Humor, Possibly Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, UST, academy au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:54:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24343105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “I know he seems a little…” He trailed off and rubbed his neck.“Dick-ish?” Skye suggested, “Crazy? Incredibly rude?”He gestured for her to sit on his bunk before joining her.“His reaction wasn’t exactly unreasonable.”-An Academy AU where Skye and Grant don’t expect to become friends, much less anything more.
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson & Antoine Triplett, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward
Comments: 36
Kudos: 60





	1. First Meeting

Skye despised fire alarms. Hated them. She preferred burning to death over having to hear SHIELD’s industrialized, state of the art, best-that-the-government-can-provide sirens. Mostly.

It was half past five am on a Sunday; She could’ve been sleeping in. Her SO gave her the morning off which she would’ve spent netflixing and doing yoga but _no_. She had to be standing outside freezing her fingers off because of a fire alarm. It would have been tolerable if she had her gloves. 

(Which, like, looking back she understands that they’re just gloves and she could’ve put her hands in her pockets but she _loved_ these gloves. They were self heating and, sure, she stole them from a Walmart in Wyoming but they were useful! Anybody in her situation would want them.)

But she didn’t have her prized gloves because Trip had stolen them for a backpacking trip. Damn him and his weirdly small hands! This obviously prompted a ten minute drive to the Operations academy to go steal them back. She might as well ruin someone else’s morning. 

-

Did she bother knocking? No. She wouldn’t be a good friend if she asked Trip’s permission to raid his room. Much better to swing the door open and wake him up. 

The second thing she noticed was Trip’s empty bed. And she says second because there was a man doing push ups in the middle of the room. Or he was, because now he was sitting up and staring at her.

“Can I help you?” Mystery man asks.

Damn. They don’t make them like they do at ops. 

“Hello?” 

All toned muscles, jawline, and abs… Oh, right. Abs was speaking to her.

“I’m looking for Trip.” She tore her eyes back up to his.

Before she could elaborate or ask where Trip was, Abs had made a sound of annoyance much too loud for the time of the day. 

“Triplett!” His voice was akin to a whine, “You gotta stop doing this!”

Her friend poked his head through what she assumed was their bathroom door. 

“Skye!” His face lit up.

“No,” Abs interrupted, “We agreed that you bring girls over Wednesday and Fridays. That’s it.”

“Chill out, Ward.”

“Absolutely not.” Ward stood up and gestured at the dorm, “This is a shared space, you can tell the girl you’re fucking to join the rest.”

Skye suddenly didn’t find him that attractive. She tried to cut in.

“I’m not here to fuck him.”

Ward didn’t so much as glance at her. 

“Dude, are you seriously gonna make me leave this room again?”

“Calm down, man. It’s a friend.”

“Yeah, so was Kara. Look at what happened with her.”

“Hey, asshole,” Skye interjected “Shut up, I’m seriously just here for a pair of gloves.”

Ward glared at her. It would’ve been intimidating had he not been literally whining a second ago. He clenched his jaw.

“I guess I’ll go stay in Bobbi’s room. _Again_.” He moved towards the door.

“You don’t have to—.” The door shutting behind him cut her off.

Unbelievable. Skye scoffed and turned back towards Trip.

“I know he seems a little…” He trailed off and rubbed his neck.

“Dick-ish?” Skye suggested, “Crazy? Incredibly rude?”

He gestured for her to sit on his bunk before joining her.

“His reaction wasn’t exactly unreasonable.”

She snorted. 

“What, because you’ve had a few girls over?”

“More than a few. Grant may have been forced to sleep in the hallway a couple nights in the first semester.”

“Yikes.”

“When I have someone over, he usually sleeps on the floor of Bobbi’s room but some nights Hunter is over and the timing just doesn’t really work out.”

“This all sounds complicated.”

“Our drill sergeant caught him leaving our room one night,” Trip explained, “He didn’t tell on me so being caught breaking curfew caused him to be put on probation.”

“So, I’m guessing girls coming over is a sensitive subject?”

He cringed.

“I feel bad. As you could probably tell, he’s a bit neurotic—.”

“No shit.”

“It’s just that punishments drop your class rank. He used to be the top of the class.” 

Skye leaned back on her elbows and blew a breath towards her bangs.

“You said his name was Grant, right? Grant Ward?”

“Heard of him?”

“Nope. You just never mentioned your roommate before.”

“Well, we don’t exactly get along. And, believe me, I’ve tried.” Skye laughed and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m guessing the charm isn’t working on him?”

“He’s the only person I’ve ever met that’s immune.”

“I’m immune.” She pointed out.

Trip smirked.

“Come on, girl. You _are_ in my bed, after all.”

“Creep!” She giggled and tried to kick him off.

Being the big strong Operations Cadet that he was, Trip avoided her shoves easily. 

“Oh!” Skye sat up, suddenly remembered why she came, “I need my gloves back.”

“Shit. Forgot I still had those.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Right.”

Trip made a very innocent face at her before getting up to go fetch them. Skye leaned back on the bunk.

“I know he had a reason to be angry but I don’t like that his first instinct was to be a total douchebag to me.” She commented. “That gives off small penis energy.”

He snorted while trifling through his top dresser drawer. 

“Ward doesn’t have a small dick.” Triplett threw the gloves at her.

Skye gave him a bewildered look.

“What?” He shrugged. “We’re roommates.”

“I can see why he doesn’t like you.”

“Now that’s just cold.”

She snickered.

“You’re so weird, dude.”

“It’s why I get along with you.”

“Ouch.” Skye grinned at him.

Skye loved hanging out with him. It was by utter chance that she had even met Antoine. Her classes intersected with some of the sci-tech kids. She ended up tutoring a girl named Jemma in computer science just to be nice. Jemma introduced her to Fitz and they both introduced her to Triplett and Kara. For the first time in… _ever_ , Skye had a steady group of friends. Although thinking about Trip’s friend, she wondered something.

“Hey, what was your psycho roommate talking about when he said something happened with Kara? Are y’all a thing, now?”

Trip chuckled.

“Definitely not. We just had some fun.”

“Ewwwww.”

“Don’t tell anyone, though. I don’t wanna spread it.”

Skye wrinkled her nose at him as he sat back next to her.

“Got it,” She commented, “Why do you think he brought it up?”

“I dunno, she’s a mutual friend. He’s weird.”

“Do you think he could’ve liked her?”

Triplett winced again.

“If that’s the case, I am a _really_ bad roommate.”

Uh, yeah. 

“On that note,” She stood up, “I should probably drive back.”

“Yeah, why are you even here so early? It’s Sunday.”

“Fire alarm got set off.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Freshman pranks need to be more creative.”

“Agreed.”

With that, Skye left. Thoughts of the high strung roommate faded from her mind. Unbeknownst to her, their interaction would irreversibly change their lives.


	2. Friendly Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some friendly banter. Skye digs into Ward's past and can't find anything. Maybe she's more interested in him than she previously thought.

The Operations academy considered fast food contraband. Therefore, in order to sneak takeout to Triplett, lunch time was spent at the sci-tech cafeteria. Skye was retelling the previous day’s encounter to their friend group.

“And then he goes, ‘Ward doesn’t have a small dick.’”

Jemma and Fitz cackled with laughter. Triplett threw a french fry at her.

“I came here for lunch, not to be exposed!”

“I really think your roommate was the one exposed.” Jemma pointed out.

“If girls get to check each other out then so do guys! Fitz, tell them it’s not weird.”

“Nah, it’s not weird. Obviously, Trip is very secure in his sexuality.”

“I’ll say,” Skye said, “I mean, seriously. If you have enough sex that your roommate needs to force you to schedule it.”

“I’m efficient.”

“You’re a dick.” She corrected.

Triplett sighed.

“I know, guys. I guess this is sort of normal at Ops. Like my friends Bobbi and Hunter? They’re _always_ going at it. Honestly, I’m surprised Ward isn’t asking me to leave some nights.”

“Well, from what you’ve said about his prick, I’m surprised too.” Fitz grinned wryly.

Skye nudged him with her elbow.

“He only said that it wasn’t small.” She teased, “For all we know, he could have a perfectly average penis.”

“We have talked about my roommate’s penis for too long.” 

“Honestly, I think you deserve a little embarrassment for what you put him through.” Simmons said.

“Okay! Okay fine. I’ll be less of a slut,” He scoffed, “As _if_ it’s my fault.”

Skye threw a fry back at him as the four of them laughed. Triplett easily dodged it. 

“Besides, I’m gonna make it up to him. I want to be his friend and believe me, he needs one. The only people he’s nice to are Kara and Bobbi”.

“I think he likes Kara.” Skye cut in before getting hit in the face with a retaliation fry.

“I doubt it. The bloke doesn’t sleep with anybody and is only friends with girls, you said? That’s pretty telling, if you know what I mean.” Fitz said.

He gave a sort of, “come on,” look to his friends. Skye elbowed him hard.

“We were all thinking it.” He complained, “Quit hitting me, you’re bigger than me.”

“Hey!” She raised her fist.

“Skye.” Jemma scolded, “Stop.”

“Sorry.” 

“I don’t think Triplett’s roommate’s sexuality is any of our business. I mean, we already know about his average sized penis.” Jemma said.

“Again, with the penises? Can we drop that? I said one comment. We agreed it wasn’t weird. I happened to see the guy’s dick. I’m sure he’s seen mine.”

Fitz leaned forward and covered his eyes with his hands. His friends stared at him. 

“Uh, buddy?” Skye asked, “You okay?”

“I’m trying to remember what my roommate’s penis looks like.”

“I swear to God, if you guys don’t drop this.” 

-

When Skye was back in her dorm, she decided to research Grant Ward. The thing was, she couldn’t really find anything. 

That’s technically not true. She found a birth certificate. It had his parents names and a quick google search told her that his father used to be a senator of Massachusetts. His brother was campaigning to be elected next year. He seemed to have two other siblings. He was only in one family photo and she had to dig deep to find it. 

There were no report cards, no criminal records, not even a drivers license. He exists, that’s for sure. But no matter how deep she dug, the only evidence of Grant Ward was that he was born and that he was recruited by SHIELD two years ago. 

A small nagging voice in her head that sounded a lot like Fitz reminded her that she knew a vague possible fact about his genitalia. But besides that, nothing. He was a ghost, kinda like her (Although she had many criminal records, they were just expunged).

Skye added it to a list of things she didn’t really like about him. Previously, the list was just basically that he yelled at her when she had done nothing personally to him. But the fact that she knew nothing about him irked her. Skye liked information. She liked the truth. It was the whole reason she got recruited in the first place. She was good at finding the truth.

All of her friends were easy to research. It’s a quality she admires in a person. They’re all upfront about who they are, despite, you know, _being spies_. Fitzsimmons were both international geniuses with good hearts and tons of humor. Triplett was a legacy kid who always made her feel comfortable and helped her have fun. They all fit in her life like pieces in a puzzle.

Others she met at SHIELD were the same. Kara was a badass who laughed louder than anyone she's ever met. Lincoln was sweet and quiet and almost went to Penn State to major in medicine. They were all people she knew she could trust to work with.

Skye decided to call Triplett. Maybe he knew more about the guy. It was Monday after all, he wasn’t busy with some girl.

He picked up on the third ring.

“Hey, Skye. What’s up?”

“I’m researching your roommate.”

Trip chuckled at her antics.

“What’d you find?”

“A birth certificate and not much else.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, I can't find anything. Which is why I called. Do you know what his deal is?”

“Considering he’s in the room with me, we could just ask him.”

“Triplett.” Skye hissed, “Don’t you fucking dare!”

“Hey, Ward. My friend wants to know more about you. She’s the girl you yelled at last Sunday.”

“Antoine, you’re gonna freak him out.”

“She’s one of those computer nerds at Communications. She said she researched you and can’t find anything.”

“Stop it! He’s gonna think I’m crazy.”

“He says he lived a quiet life. Not much to report back to you.”

“I hate you so much.” 

“She said that’s very helpful and told me to thank you.”

“I did not say that, you buttface. I am gonna tell Simmons you’re being mean to me.”

“Alright, Skye. Glad we could help. Have a great night!”

With a beep, the call ended. Skye resisted the urge to throw her phone at the wall. She would’ve, if she hadn’t received the _worst_ text from Trip.

**Now that’s what you call a freshman prank.**

She hated her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so surprised and delighted at the well reception that I went ahead and wrote another chapter! That's definitely an update record for me. Thanks for reading!!!! <3


	3. Another Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When they meet again, it's chaos.

Skye sat cross legged on Triplett’s bed, trying to beat him in uno. It was surprisingly a difficult feat. He was back from his morning, “conditioning,” (which Skye learned was some fancy combination of training and working out) and had yet to shower. She blamed the smell for her losing.

“What classes do you guys even take here?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, obviously they teach nerd shit at Sci-tech. At communications we learn data analysis, computer code, and—.”

“More nerd shit?” He smirked at her.

Skye rolled her eyes and drew a card.

“Communications has _cool_ nerd shit.”

“Not many people would consider data analysis cool.”

“Well, what do you learn?”

“The physical stuff was mainly last year. They need to make sure the freshmen are cut out to even be in the program. This year we are focusing on espionage, linguistics, and social skills.”

She laughed.

“Social skills?”

“Come on, girl. Not everybody is as charming as me. You’ve met other cadets, some of them really need it.”

“How the hell does someone learn social skills?”

“Etiquette in different cultures, mostly. There’s a seduction class but,” Trip leaned back and grinned, “I kinda already have that covered.” 

“Ewww.”

He rolled his eyes

“But there’s rumors that there are darker classes starting your junior year.

“Darker like how?” 

“Darker like… how to kill people.”

“I guess you need to learn that.” She shuddered and tried to picture her friend killing someone.

“Yeah. First year is about physical and psychological endurance. Second year is learning people and espionage skills. And then the next two years are about using that on missions.”

“So you’ll have to like… shoot a gun?”

“Oh, we’ve definitely already been doing that since freshman year. There’s just a difference between learning how to shoot a paper target and how to torture an enemy for information.”

“Right.”

A bit of silence stretched between them as Skye considered the difference between their careers. Skye was supposed to help the operation agents but in a behind the scenes way. It was hard to imagine the soldiers actually performing missions. The door opening interrupted her thoughts.

It was Ward. 

“Hi.” Skye tried to say brightly.

He hesitated before walking in.

“Hey, uh, sorry for the other day.” 

“It’s chill.”

“Okay.” He scratched the back of his head.

“Grant! Play uno with us!”

“I mean, I was just boxing so I should probably shower.”

“If only you did that.” Skye said, turning back towards Trip, “You smell.”

“How else would I distract you from winning?”

She snorted. Grant finally walked into the dorm room, shutting the door behind him. Skye didn’t realize he was taking off his shirt until she accidentally glanced in his direction. 

Big mistake.

He was facing away from them as he pulled the shirt off of his arms. Her eyes zeroed in on his flexing back muscles and the sweat dripping down his shoulder blades. She resisted the urge to bite her lip at the sight. Triplett nudged her and made an amused face.

“Sorry about him.” He said, “We’re all a bit too comfortable here.”

Ward suddenly realized he was getting changed in front of others.

“Oh.” Grant looked back at them. “Oh, you’re right man, sorry.” He quickly picked up a change of clothes and made his way into the bathroom. 

Triplett didn’t speak again until they heard the shower start to run.

“Wow, girl.”

She cringed.

“Let’s not talk about that.”

“Skye, that was weird. I’m just saying.”

“That whole situation was just awkward in general.”

“Yeah, the only two interactions you two had were him yelling at you and you stalking him.”

Skye buried her face in her hands and groaned. 

“Dude, that sucked. Why did you do that to me?”

“You’re a freshman! I had to.’

She dramatically flopped on her side. 

“It was _so_ mean.” 

“Fitz thought it was funny!”

“He thinks everything is funny.”

Trip started to shuffle the uno cards for a new game.

“Seriously, though,” He said, “What was that?”

“I mean, he’s kinda hot.” She rolled onto her back.

“Do you like him or something?”

Skye made a face at the ceiling.

“Definitely not. I just checked him out, it’s whatever.”

“I didn’t think he was your type.”

“He’s not. It’s honestly whatever.” She grabbed the cards from Trip and started dealing, “Anyways, what did you mean when you said that you all are too comfortable?”

“We all spend way too much time in locker rooms.”

Skye cracked a smile.

“You’re all a bunch of dumb jocks.”

“Dumb _hot_ jocks.” Trip argued.

She laughed and sat up. The shower cut off and they heard Ward move around the bathroom. Triplett immediately played a plus-two card, indicating that she was going to lose again.

Ward walked back into the dorm room in grey sweats and a white t-shirt. Skye secretly admired the way the fabric stretched over his shoulders. Boxing classes were definitely treating him right.

“Hey, roomie. We just started another round if you want to get in on this.”

“I’m good, man.” Grant flopped onto his bunk and pulled out a book from his side table.

“So, Skye.” Triplett grinned, “Were you ever gonna explain to us why you were looking into Grant?”

She was gonna kill him.

“It was pretty strange.” Ward commented from behind his book.

Skye tried to fix an unbothered look on her face.

“I’m a hacker. You’re my best friend’s roommate. I had to vet you.”

“You’re an analyst.” He corrected. “Besides, I’m gonna be an agent, just like you. That’s vetting enough.”

She side eyed him. Who was he to say who she was or wasn’t?

“I mean, I _am_ a hacker. And maybe I just wanted to know more about this random dude who yelled at me because he thought I was some kind of slut.”

“I’m sorry.” He spoke in a monotone voice, still not bothering to even look at her.

Skye didn’t like it.

“Skye,” Triplett said, “It’s your move.”

She ignored him.

“So, Grant, you’re top of the class, right?”

She knew he wasn't. He put the book down. Skye got the impression he would’ve puffed his chest out if he was standing up.

“I used to be.”

“Who’s the top of class, now?”

“My friend, Bobbi.”

“Why do people care about the position? Is it like a valedictorian thing?”

“Are we gonna play uno or what?” Triplett asked, shooting Skye a warning look.

“I wouldn’t call it that.”

“Do you give like a speech at graduation or something?”

“No, it’s just a title.”

“But like do you _get_ anything from it?”

Grant frowned at her.

“It’s not bad to want to succeed at your job.”

“A title doesn’t mean you succeed.”

“It suggests it.”

“So, what, you’re gonna like write home to your parents and say, ‘Hey mom and dad! Look at me, I’m succeeding at my job!’ That’s what you get out of it?”

He scoffed.

“Fuck off.”

“What's your problem?”

Ward picked up his book again and focused on it.

“Nothing." His voice was surprisingly full of venom. "Just fuck off.”

“Jeez, fine. Trip, you wanna go hang with Kara?”

She saw Grant roll his eyes. Good. 

“Uh, sure.” Trip looked between them like he was watching a tennis match.

They cleaned up the uno cards and left.

“God, your roommate is a dick.” She said, as they were walking.

“You kind of baited him.” Triplett stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Why did he even try to _correct_ me about _my_ title? He doesn’t know me.”

“Yeah, that was weird. He’s just like that sometimes.”

“It’s some sort of weird superiority complex. Did you even hear him?” Skye furrowed her brow and did a bad impression, “‘It’s not bad to want to succeed,’ like I don’t succeed. We all succeed, that’s why we’re here.”

Trip stopped walking.

“Look,” He said, “Forget about seeing Kara. Let’s just go watch a movie at your place or something. Are you okay?”

Skye shrugged.

“Yeah.” She kicked at a rock, “I just hate guys like that.”

“He’s not that bad.”

“Let’s just go watch a movie.”

She didn’t know why her friend was defending him. Sure, she might have tried to get under Ward’s skin a bit. But that was because he was being unnecessarily rude. Honestly, she could see why he didn’t have many friends. 

“It’s my fault." He said, "I started the conversation. I was trying to embarrass you.”

“He’s so rude. Who just resorts to cussing at someone? All I did was ask why he cared.”

“Hey,” Triplett put his arm around her shoulder, “He’s just sensitive because he lost the title. It has nothing to do with you.”

“I don’t like him.” She said.

Screw how attractive he was. He was a piece of work.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think! I am so excited for this story. I've been working on it for a bit.


End file.
